Ranchers, Ecos Alike Oppose
Low-Level Aircraft Training

PECOS, Texas —(AP)— Five West Texas landowners sued the U.S. and German air forces in federal court Friday to try to stop attempts to increase military training flights over the Davis Mountains region.

The flights, which would begin in New Mexico and loop around the mountains, passing over several ranches, would disrupt ranching and spoil the area's serenity, according to the suit.

"We don't want jets screaming over our homes and ranchlands," said rancher Kaare Remme, one of the plaintiffs. "These planes are going to scatter our cattle and wildlife, hurt tourism, and ruin the quality of life for people who work and live here."

Military officials said they had not received the suit and could not comment.

The suit specifically singles out flights originating at southern New Mexico's Holloman Air Force Base, which is home to stealth fighters and also hosts several German Luftwaffe planes and pilots.

Part of their training is done over West Texas.

The suit seeks an injunction to stop additional flights because it contends the Air Force has failed to follow proper procedures for flight approval required by the National Environmental Protection Act.

The law provides a method for considering the environmental impact of aircraft maneuvers, including the effects on humans and animals.

The legal action comes at a time of heightened tension over military flights in the Big Bend region, where residents are complaining that low-flying planes are disrupting ranching operations and the quiet environment that is key to the area's vital tourism industry.

The protests include aircraft from other bases, not just Holloman.

Ironically, some of the ranching industry’s most bitter foes are also complaining about the low-level training missions, but not in Texas and not because of their potential impact on livestock.

Their complaints are reserved for New Mexico and Arizona, where German air force training missions could soon be buzzing the treetops above newly-released Mexican gray wolves and other so-called "endangered" species.

The U.S. Air Force is discussing a plan with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allow German Tornado fighter-bombers to fly as low as 100 feet above the ground as they enter Arizona air space over the Blue Range Primitive Area.

The Fish and Wildlife Service reintroduced 11 captive-bred Mexican gray wolves this year in the area, hoping to re-establish them in the wild.

Fish and Wildlife spokesman Tom Bauer said the agency is discussing the flight plan with the Air Force, mostly to determine the impact on "endangered" and "threatened" species in the Blue Range area of the Apache National Forest. The wolves' fate is not involved, he said.

"We've listed the wolves as a non-essential, experimental population," said Bauer from his Albuquerque, N.M. office.

The wildlife agency may not oppose the low-elevation flights, but the Tucson-based Southwest Center for Biological Diversity is promising a lawsuit to block them.

"At as low as 100 feet above the ground, these jets degrade wildlife habitat and degrade humans' wilderness experience," said Peter Galvin, a spokesman for the environmental group.

Galvin said the flight plan would also direct jets over the Escudilla Mountain Wilderness Area, where the last Arizona grizzly bear was killed. He said the flights could also harm bald eagles, peregrine falcons and other protected birds.

"These (areas) are crown jewels of Southwest public lands, some of the best wildlife habitat," he said.

The U.S. Air Force and its German counterpart, the Luftwaffe, want the flight plan active by 1999. Final approval could come as early as mid-May.

Bob Pepper, a spokesman at Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo, N.M., said the Air Force does not believe the low-level Tornado flights will harm rare species. Holloman is home to 12 German Tornado jets.

A Tornado training base in England is closing, and the Luftwaffe needs a new site, Pepper said.

The additional Tornado sites are needed because "the weather is poor in Germany and we have less air space," said Lt. Col. Gottfried Schwarz of the Luftwaffe.

Besides, a spokesman for the German Embassy in Washington said Germany has barred jet flights below 1000 feet since the Luftwaffe was re-established.

Pepper said the low-level flights are banned in Germany because they pose noise and safety risks to its dense population.

But National Forest Service officials are concerned about the effects the flights will have even in their sparse areas.

"We're especially concerned about the low-level flights over wilderness areas. The noise and sight will diminish the wilderness experience for visitors," said Delbert Griego, assistant supervisor for Gila National Forest, which abuts the Apache National Forest.

The Interior Department asked the Air Force to shrink the size of its proposal, but it refused, said Glenn Sekavec, a regional environmental officer for the department in Albuquerque.

Sekavec said more Tornado flights "will increase noise and affect wildlife, including endangered species. Critters will move and act differently."